Smart Moves To Avoid Long Term Care Costs

By Author: Hilarie Ellis
Total Articles: 13
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As long term care costs by state go higher each year, you need to upgrade your plan every now and then in order to avoid financial distress in the future.

Upgrade in this sense means to constantly improve your financial situation even if you already have a long term care (LTC) plan on standby. Due to inflation, no one is ever certain of the future cost of care but there are some smart moves that can lead to financial freedom and here they are:

• Forget your savings. When planning your future health care needs forget that you have a substantial amount of money stashed away. Imagine that you have little to no monetary assets for this will inspire you to work up something that will not only protect your finances but more importantly your family should you wind up needing care someday.

• Strengthen your nest egg. This is the exact opposite of the above suggestion. Even if you have managed to secure an LTC plan early on in your life, pretend that you don’t have one yet so that you will continue to value every dollar that you earn. If you are constantly aware of the fact that ...
... you have a health care plan already, you’ll have the tendency of becoming complacent, or worse, extravagant.

• Invest in a small but practical business. This should actually precede nest egg strengthening because without a source of income what’s there to strengthen? Avoid mimicking the lives of other retirees that started smooth sailing only to end up on a bumpy road because they forgot that money is indispensable and should be spent wisely.

• Be sure of your LTC plan. It is not enough to have a plan for your future health care needs. You have to understand what your plan is designed to, otherwise you could wind up with bigger out-of-pocket LTC expenses.

• Be familiar with the average cost of care. You do not have to know the LTC figures in all regions of the country but at least take to heart the numbers in your area so that you won’t struggle to obtain your LTC needs.

Long Term Care Costs By State

Based on the reports of LTC specialists, people living in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern parts of the country are bound to face expensive LTC services.

Nursing home residents in New Hampshire, for instance, are paying a daily rate of $354 as opposed to the national average rate which is $222 according to top long term care insurance (LTCI) company, Genworth Financial.

In Maine, in-home care recipients have to shell out $22 per hour to receive assistance with their activities of daily living (ADL) from a home health aide. Meanwhile, on the national level the hourly rate for this type of LTC provider is only $19.

Population, accessibility to LTC facilities or services, and total head count of LTC providers are the main factors that affect the cost of care today and the same set of factors will affect tomorrow’s LTC costs so it is very important to put together an effective plan.

To learn more about long term care costs by state, contact an elder care specialist, elder law attorney or a professional LTCI specialist.

Shop for long term care quote from major carriers and find out about long term care insurance costs in your state when you visit our website.